Kerala Assembly: Opposition LDF walks out over Budget cuts in allocations to local bodies

Published 1 July 2026 · politics

The Opposition Left Democratic Front (LDF) walked out of the Kerala Legislative Assembly on Wednesday (July 1, 2026) after Speaker Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan disallowed its notice

The Opposition Left Democratic Front (LDF) walked out of the Kerala Legislative Assembly on Wednesday (July 1, 2026) after Speaker Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan disallowed its notice for an adjournment motion on the Plan cut funds for local bodies in the Revised Budget for 2026-27 presented by the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) government. Seeking leave of the House for an adjournment debate on the issue, Communist Party of India (CPI) MLA G.R. Anil said the local bodies were facing a serious crisis, unable to spend for their day-to-day affairs or for the developmental and welfare projects earlier planned for the year as allocations have not been made for spillover projects for the previous year. Chief Minister V.D. Satheesan said since the issue was raised during the Budget discussions, there was no urgency to discuss it as part of an adjournment motion. He said the previous LDF government had in its last Budget allocated ₹11,189 crore for local bodies, while the UDF government in the Revised Budget had made an allocation of ₹8,655.45 crore, with a reduction of ₹1,533.55 crore.

The allocation had to be reduced because there was a ₹20,500-crore shortfall in the amount projected as Central transfers in the LDF’s Budget. Proportional reduction has been done in the Plan for all departments. However, additional allocations have been made for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Department as well as the Fisheries department. He alleged that the previous LDF government had failed to transfer the third instalment of the allocations for local bodies in the 2025-26 Budget. The current situation arose due to “the failures” in the LDF’s Budget preparation and allocation. The LDF has also not made spillover allocations in its Budget, he said. Pinarayi accuses CM of ‘misleading’ House Leader of the Opposition Pinarayi Vijayan accused the Chief Minister of misleading the House as separate allocations are not made usually in the Budget for spillover projects, but made as an additional allocation at a later point of time. “Everyone here is aware of this fact.

Such misleading comments have almost become a habit for the Chief Minister. Similar is the case with his claim that the LDF government did not provide the third instalment of Plan allocations for the local bodies. The third instalment was held up because the Model Code of Conduct for the 2026 Assembly elections came into force. The government wrote to the Election Commission for permission to transfer the allocated money, but it was denied. The spillover can be easily allocated from the ₹6,000 crore that was remaining in the Treasury when this government came to power,” he said. Vijayan said “an impression is being created” that the LDF government had made lesser allocations to the local bodies, which is contrary to facts. The UDF government had from 2011-16 made a total allocation of ₹83,020 crore for local bodies, out of which only ₹78,275 crore was spent. The LDF government had from 2016-21 initially allocated ₹1.37 lakh crore and spent ₹1.41 lakh crore.